1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an improved gutter screen assembly for installation on gutters. More particularly, the present invention relates to an edging device for attachment to gutter screens to improve or enhance the effectiveness of gutter screens by minimizing water runoff and debris collection adjacent the outfitted gutter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Water molecules comprise two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen; water is thus often referred to by its chemical composition: H2O. The unique chemical composition of water contributes to a certain “sticky” property of water. When molecules stick together, they do so as a result of hydrogen bonding and when water is in its liquid form, its hydrogen bonds are very fragile. The hydrogen bonds form, break, and re-form with great frequency. Each hydrogen bond lasts only a few trillionths of a second, but the molecules bond promiscuously to a succession of neighbors, giving water fairly firm structure. Collectively, the hydrogen bonds hold the substance together, a phenomenon known as cohesion.
Cohesion due to hydrogen bonding contributes to the transport of water against gravity and it is this property that has led to the development of the present invention. Related to cohesion is surface tension, which is a measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of a liquid. At the interface between water and air is an ordered arrangement of water molecules, hydrogen bonded to one another and to the water below, making the water behave as though it were covered with an invisible film. Surface tension causes water on a surface to bead into a spherical shape having the smallest ratio of area to volume, maximizing the number of hydrogen bonds that can form.
Water has a great surface tension. If one could see molecules of water and how they act, one would notice that each water molecule electrically attracts its neighbors. Readily observable, however, is the tendency for water to form droplets rather than to spread out. Further, as is perhaps most famously appreciated by the water strider insect, the surface of a body of water is held together in a film. It is noted that if the molecules of a liquid did not attract one another, then the constant thermal agitation of the molecules would cause the liquid to instantly boil or evaporate.
Hydrogen atoms have single electrons which tend to spend a lot of their time “inside” the water molecule, toward the oxygen atom, leaving their outsides naked, or positively charged. The oxygen atom has eight electrons, and often a majority of them are around on the side away from the hydrogen atoms, making this face of the atom negatively charged. Since opposite charges attract, the hydrogen atoms of one water molecule like to point toward the oxygen atoms of other molecules. Of course, in the liquid state, the molecules have too much energy to become locked into a fixed pattern; nevertheless, the numerous temporary “hydrogen bonds” between molecules make water an extraordinarily sticky fluid.
Within the water, at least a few molecules are away from the surface and every molecule is engaged in a tug of war with its neighbors on every side. For every “up” pull there is a “down” pull, and for every “left” pull there is a “right” pull, and so on, so that any given molecule feels no net force at all. At the surface things are different. There is no up pull for every down pull, since of course there is no liquid above the surface; thus the surface molecules tend to be pulled back into the liquid and it requires work to pull a molecule up to the surface. If the surface is stretched—as when you blow up a bubble—it becomes larger in area, and more molecules are dragged from within the liquid to become part of this increased area. This “stretchy skin” effect is what is commonly referred to as surface tension. It will thus be seen that surface tension thus plays an important role in the way liquids behave.
When rain drops come into contact with a roof, the droplets do adhere to one another via the described atomic processes. Additionally, the droplets interact with the roof surface and with the gutter screen surface via similar atomic processes. If an observer were to inspect a gutter screen during a rain shower, the observer would no doubt see that the water-accepting apertures in the gutter screen often become filled with a film of water. On this macroscopic scale, it may be further observed that additional forces act upon the newly forming body(ies) of water. In this regard, it is observed that the gravitational forces, normal forces and frictional forces combine to create a net force causing the rainwater to flow in a direction toward gutter systems, which are primarily designed to catch, collect and divert water runoff to downspouts for directing roof water away from building structures to prevent water damage.
It is noted that the prior art gutter screen systems teach a number of gutter screen systems having varying levels of effectiveness. The gutter screen systems, as described and taught, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,482 ('482 Patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,920 ('920 Patent) perform fairly well. However, it is noted that in order to catch a maximum of roof water runoff, the screen or mesh components of the '482 Patent and the '920 Patent have to be precisely curved or made concave to the external viewpoint during installation. In this last regard, it should be particularly noted that in order for such a curved gutter screen to properly perform, the same must be installed by well trained and experienced installers. The gutter protection systems as taught by the '920 Patent and '482 Patent are likely to fail (or perform poorly) if inexperienced persons install the same, such as may be the case when such systems are sold to the public as a cost effective do-it-yourself system. Given an improper installation, some of the roof water runoff runs over the edge of the gutter system, thus defeating the very purpose of the gutter system. Thus the curved screens as exemplified by the '920 Patent and the '482 Patent when properly installed, effectively allow roof water runoff to permeate the water-accepting grid or screen. However, it is the curved feature of these types of screens that tends to contribute to debris collection over time. Given sufficient time and debris collection, the water-accepting grid becomes clogged with debris, thereby decreasing the effectiveness of the gutter screen, and ultimately leading to probable water damage.
Since debris collection may lead to screen clogging and eventual damage to either the home or other building, home and building owners thus typically consider the described debris collection highly troublesome. Angled, planar gutter screens are generally considered preferable to curved gutter screens in terms of providing means for allowing debris to freely translate from the roof border region, over the gutter opening to a state of free fall adjacent the affixed gutter. It will thus be noted that by installing the gutter screen in a taught, straight or substantially planar configuration, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,704 ('704 Patent)), one may be able to significantly reduces debris collection on the gutter screen.
However, when gutter screens or mesh installations are installed in a taught, straight, or substantially planar manner, roof water runoff has a tendency to flow over the edge of the gutter due to water surface tension and momentum. A common method or means of preventing water runoff from flowing over the edge of the gutter is to install a relatively tall edging (often referred to as “walls” or “guards” ) at the inferior most edge of the gutter screen (as taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,765,101; 5,566,513; 6,427,388, respectively). It is noted that these so-called walls or guards effectively stop the roof water runoff. However, these walls or guard structures also have a tendency to collect debris behind them, which debris collection also leads to screen clogging, and eventual water damage, substantially as earlier described.
From a review of the above-referenced patents and other prior art generally known to exist, it will be seen that the prior art does not teach a structure, uniquely configured for breaking the water surface tension of water films formed upon gutter screen applications. Further, the prior art does not teach a structure is usable in connection with existing angled, planar gutter screen systems for improving or enhancing the effectiveness thereof by functioning to both break water surface tension of water films and allow bulky debris to translate over the water tension breaker. The prior art thus perceives a need for a water tension breaker usable in combination with a gutter screen to provide a means to break the surface tension of water and allow water-accepting grids or regions to accept greater quantities of water runoff, thereby reducing “over-the-edge” water runoff, and further to prevent or minimize debris collection upon the gutter screen.